This situation has already prompted experts to warn of the dangers of climate change.
Lisa Lapointe, director of forensic science for the province of British Columbia, the region hardest hit by this heat summit that began hitting the Pacific coast on June 25, said Friday night that the number of deaths reported in the past week had increased to 719.
Lapointe pointed out that this is three times the normal value, so that almost 500 deaths are a direct consequence of the heatwave, which caused the thermometers to rise to temperatures of 49.69 degrees Celsius.
“We are releasing this information because it is likely that the extreme weather conditions experienced by British Columbia last week were a significant contributor to the increase in deaths,” Lapointe said in a statement.
This expert acknowledges that this number is trending and will be updated in the coming days, as many of the people who have died are elderly people living alone and in unconditioned homes that are not prepared for high temperatures.
According to figures released today by the British Columbia Forest Fire Service, there were 245 fires last week and 176 fires are still active, of which 76 have occurred in the past two days.
Almost 70% of fires were caused by lightning, which created ideal dry conditions for wildfires. In 15 hours, from Wednesday to Thursday, 113,000 lightning strikes were recorded in British Columbia.
“We have evidence that global warming is real. Unfortunately, we have already experienced this, this is not the future. This. So I hope people prepare because we are likely to see this more often, ”explained Natalie Hasell, a meteorologist at Environment and Climate Change Canada, in a conversation with local television station CTV.
